Winnipeg worth trip for Rutledge

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This article was published 19/07/2010 (5841 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jim Rutledge made one mistake on Sunday and it cost him a crack at a playoff and first-prize cash at the Players Cup.

The consolation prize was a second-place cheque for $28,800 and a trip to the this week’s Canadian Open at St George’s in Toronto.

The 50-year-old Rutledge finished at 10-under par for the week, just a stroke back of winner Aaron Goldberg. Rutledge carved out a tidy five-under par 66 Sunday at Pine Ridge with only a bogey on the 15th hole to blemish his round.

Rutledge stood with a wedge in his hand for his third shot on the par 5 with a birdie still in sight. But an overzealous approach saw him bounce over the green into thick rough. A chip and two putts later and Rutledge had to stain his scorecard with a six.

Goldberg meanwhile, was making a birdie on the 13th to get to 11-under. It was a lead he would keep with five straight pars to end his day at 66 — a score that earned him one of those great, big clown cheques for $48,000.

Rutledge, who has focused on the Champions Tour for most of this season, picked up $28,800 for his work. Combined with the US$82,550 he’s won on the Champions Tour it’s been a pretty good year.

“I have to go to Monday qualifers and it’s a lot of work,” said Rutledge, born in Victoria and a member of the PGA Tour, Canadian Tour and Nationwide Tour during a career that has seen him win close to a million dollars. “You get there on Saturday and play practice rounds on Saturday and Sunday and then try to qualify on Monday. If you qualify you play the rest of the week. It’s a lot of golf and it’s work. They used to call it an Entertainment Tour. Now it’s a competitive tour. If you don’t play good early in the week, you can’t catch up. Look at the leaderboard — it’s like a regular PGA event from a few years ago.”

Rutledge has qualified for five Champions Tour events this year, but rather than fly to Europe for the Senior British Open, he elected to come to Winnipeg.

“Britain is a long way to go to try and qualify,” said Rutledge, who finished tied 38th and earned $9,000 at the Champions Tour event in Montreal last weekend. “I decided, why not stop in Winnipeg on the way home? I’ve always liked this course but never really cracked it. I hit it well this week.”

Rutledge’s earnings this weekend moved him to seventh on the Canadian Tour’s Order of Merit money list. The top five qualify for the Canadian Open. Two players from the top five will not play the Canadian Open, making room for Rutledge.

“This worked out pretty well for me,” he said. “I came here because I was playing well and didn’t want to take two weeks off prior to the U.S. Senior Open. Now I don’t get any time off and that’s fine with me.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Short game

— Former Manitoba Amateur champ Jordan Krantz of Ontario shot 75 and finished at even par 284, tied for 36th, earning $1,912. He will play the Dakotas Tour for much of the rest of the summer.

— Regular tour member Adam Speirs from Winnipeg was 73 on Sunday and at five-over, tied for 57th. He earned $1,020.

— Lee Curry of Ottawa aced Pine Ridge’s par-3 16th hole Sunday, but it was small consolation in his erratic round of 73. Curry faded to a tie for 18th at 4-under.